The Epigraphy of El Zotz Stephen D
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Research at El Zotz, Guatemala The Epigraphy of El Zotz Stephen D. Houston Brown University Epigraphic data from the region of El Zotz is (personal communication 1982) had pointed out scant but vital, including vestiges of a dynastic that a “split sky” glyph also corresponded to the history at the very center of the Maya world. prinicipal sign of Uaxactun, a hypothesis that had Dating to the end of the Early Classic and possibly won a certain degree of acceptance in the scientific extending into the beginnings of the Late, this is literature. In part, Mathews based his identification an era for which the evidence is more fragmentary on the use of this emblem on a vase which is now than cohesive. In the mid-1990s, David Stuart recognized important details on a wooden lintel looted from Structure 1 of El Zotz in about 1975, according to information provided by Ian Graham, who recovered fragments of the lintel in situ (Figures 1, 2).1 This sculpture was sold illegally to the Denver Museum of Art and later recovered for eventual display in the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala, where it can be seen today. In examining the glyphic details of the lintel, Stuart took note of two emblem glyphs connected to El Zotz. One has as its principal sign a stylized symbol of a small earflare, together with a ji suffix (an indication of its still unknown reading). The other shows a conflation of the signAJAW , “lord,” and a “split sky.” Stuart’s reaction was one of surprise, for two reasons. In the first place, these signs are strongly linked to the site of Yaxchilan in Chiapas, where they serve as emblem glyphs of the dynastic seat. In the second, Peter Mathews 1 A glyph of what may be a personal name appears on the lintel and also on Stela 1 of El Zotz, yet another sign of the perspicacity of Graham in this regard (Figure 3). 2008 The Epigraphy of El Zotz. Translated from Levantamiento preliminar y actividades de registro en El Zotz, Biotopo San Miguel La Palotada, Petén, by Stephen D. Houston et al. (an informe available at www.mesoweb.com/zotz/resources.html). Mesoweb: www. mesoweb.com/zotz/articles/ZotzEpigraphy.pdf. Figure 1. El Zotz Lintel 1. The Epigraphy of El Zotz 2 Figure 2. El Zotz Lintel 1. Drawing by Ian Graham. Figure 3. El Zotz Stela 1: front (left), back (right). Drawing by Ian Graham. The Epigraphy of El Zotz 3 Figure 4. Canberra vessel (K8458). Photographs by Justin Kerr. Drawing by Peter Mathews. found in the National Gallery of Australia, a local site. collection formed a few years after the grievous The rulers of El Zotz utilized a singular name, looting of El Zotz (Figure 4). The vase displayed the with the following elements: (1) CHAK, the color “split sky” sign in the context of an emblem glyph. “red” or the adjective “great”; (2) a fish in vertical Mathews considered that the vase, by its form position, probably carrying a non-phonetic and its date—and for reasons not very explicit— value; and (3) an animal head, sometimes with probably came from Uaxactun. However, the same the features of a dog, fox(?), and feline (Figure name appeared on the lintel from El Zotz, which 5). A variant inscribed on a stela at Bejucal (7 km entailed serious problems for his interpretation. northeast of El Zotz) and on a vase of unknown For now, the evidence seems in creasingly provenance (K679 in Justin Kerr’s database at strong that the “split sky” glyph pertains to El Zotz rather than Uaxactun. A relevant consideration is the presence of a possible local glyph for Uaxactun, in the form of a K’AN sign, sometimes with ko (Uaxactun Stela 12:B3, Stela 14:C2). That is, the texts of Uaxactun show no connection to the “split sky” but rather to a different set of dynastic references. The only example of “split sky” at Figure 5. Royal names Uaxactun appears on the right side of Stela 2, at of El Zotz. Drawings by Peter Mathews (top) position B9. The context, after the verb “ascend,” and Ian Graham (left). uses the toponymic attribute NAL and has the sense of “give tribute,” as in parallel references on Stela 12 of Dos Pilas and Stela 12 of Naranjo. In other inscriptions, such as Hieroglyphic Stairway 2 of Dos Pilas, the toponymic glyphs that follow this verb for “ascend” record the act of “going up” to foreign sites. In no instance do they relate to a The Epigraphy of El Zotz 4 Figure 6. Vessel associated with El Zotz (K679). The signs a-ku appear in the sixth glyph of the horizontal band, immediately following the animal head prefixed by a fish in vertical position. Detail of rollout photograph by Justin Kerr. www.mayavase.com; Figure 6) adds the name The problem with the texts of El Zotz is to a-ku, ahk, “turtle.” The vessel is highly significant in extract an intelligible pattern from their content, that it can be connected to a nexus of some dozens with dynastic sequences and other results usually of unprovenanced vases in private collections (e.g., achieved by epigraphers. We know that at least K1743, K2699, K3060, K5350, K5465, 7147, K8393, three of the rulers carried the name previously K8418). This group of vessels shares a range of discussed: a lord from the era of “Smoking Frog,” features, including a stylistic date at the hiatus a personage of consumate importance in Maya or transition between the Early and Late Classic, history, that is, at the end of the fourth century (c. a reddish background or palette, the peculiar AD 400); another mentioned on the lintel, which usage of “split sky” in place of the pronoun u, dates stylistically to the last years of the Early and the first images in Maya art of way, a group Classic; and the name from the vessel (K679), with of supernatural entities. It is probable that a great a date at the beginning of the Late Classic (unless quantity of vessels with these features come from it is an anachronistic image). Another reference El Zotz or its vicinity, something that methods like appears on an artifact, a mirror back, excavated neutron activation analysis could confirm. in Bagaces, Costa Rica, without doubt an import The Epigraphy of El Zotz 5 A B 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Figure 7. Mirror back from Bagaces, Costa Rica. Drawing by James Porter. into the region of its discovery (Figure 7). This text historical terms, the last years of El Zotz are names a ruler of El Zotz, followed by a reference wrapped in mist and obscurity. to a “gift” (?), si, of the sovereign lord of El Peru, The only topic remaining to be discussed is the K’inich Bahlam, with his emblem glyph wa- relationship with Yaxchilan, whose dynasty shared ka AJAW. Thus it can be suggested that El Zotz the same two emblem glyphs, a feature which belonged to the sphere of El Peru for at least part of cannot be accidental. One interpretive option is its political era. The link is not unexpected, given that the Yaxchilan dynasty originated in the central the relative proximity of El Peru, 50 km directly to Peten, that this royal family, like that of Dos Pilas, the west. sprang from a foreign dynasty, perhaps as an In the epigraphy of El Zotz there is therefore a inferior or cadet lineage. Unfortunately, the dates pattern of dates from the middle to the end of the of El Zotz currently cannot sustain this hypothesis, Early Classic, with less solid ceramic evidence of in that there are no sherds early enough to reflect the Late Classic. It is possible that there is another mention at Tikal, in the context of a war against the an antecedence to Yaxchilan. Another possibility “site of the small earflare”— perhaps El Zotz—on is that El Zotz was part of a wider zone, with 9.15.12.11.13 7 Ben 1 Pop (February 4, AD 744), early settlements in the region west of Tikal and possibly related to problems between Tikal and Uaxactun. The other option is simply that the Naranjo. These references give the impression of use of these emblem glyphs in the two cities was not very friendly relations with Tikal, although fortuitous, equivalent to the use of “Hix Witz” in Stela 1 of Bejucal leaves no doubt that the dynasty the zone of Zapote Bobal and at La Honradez, to the of El Zotz recognized “Smoking Frog” as soveign northeast of the Peten. Clearly further epigraphic during his extraordinary stay in the Peten. In investigation is called for. The Epigraphy of El Zotz 6 References Andrews, George F. 1986 Notes on “El Zotz”: A Little-known Site in Peten, Guatemala. Mexicon 8(6):123-125. Congreso de la República de Guatemala 1990 Decreto 5-90: Declaración de la Reserva de la Bios- fera Maya. Congreso de la República de Guate- mala, Guatemala. Fields, Virgina M., and Dorie Reents-Budet 2005 Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Quintana, Oscar, and Wolfgang Wurster 2001 Ciudades Mayas del Noreste de Petén, Gua- temala. Materialien zur Allgemeinen und Vergle- ichenden Archaeologie Band 59:1-194. Ruiz Aguilar, María Elena 2004 Materiales líticos asociados a una ofrenda del Clásico Temprano en el Zotz, Petén, Guatemala. Los Investigadores de la Cultura Maya 12(1):81-97. Universidad Autónoma de Campeche, Campeche, Mexico..